The National Rural Conference 2025

Bookings are now officially open for the National Rural Conference 2025, which will take place online from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 September.
This is the Rural Services Network’s flagship event of the year, bringing together rural decision-makers, practitioners, and advocates for four days of live, interactive sessions focused on the future of rural communities.
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Cashlesss society leaving vulnerable people risk

A Treasury Select Committee report on consumers’ access to financial services, published on Monday 13, has been widely covered in the media.

The report found that financial services providers had should always be acting in their customers’ best interests, but they are currently not required to do so. It also examined the so-called loyalty penalty (the cost of being a long-standing customer) and the impact of bank branch closures.

The Daily Mail covered the report’s warning that Britain will soon become a cashless society, leaving vulnerable people ‘at risk’ if ATM machine closures are not halted with ‘urgent action’.

The article notes that 3,200 cash machines have closed since January 2018 and argues that directing customers towards Post Offices to make money deposits and withdrawals is ‘no substitute for a real bank’.

Full articles:

→  www.parliament.uk - Banks can no longer ignore financial inclusion, warns Treasury Committee

→ The Daily Mail - Britain will soon become a cashlesss society leaving vulnerabl people risk if ATM closures are not halted, warn MPS